“Mr Guntrip was transferred to the MH estate on 8 July, so his current Parole Review (and accordingly the hearing on 2 August) is cancelled.”
“Since coming to the medium secure unit Mr Guntrip has spent time in seclusion on several occasions for making explicit threats of violence towards several members of the staff and patients. He has damaged property and broke a window by throwing a chair at it. He has said things like “I am going to stab… (a named individual) in the neck with a pen when I get the chance…” and while in seclusion he has said, “I can pretend to be calm but once I am out I would get you”
“Mr Guntrip was asked if he wanted to engage with the Mental Healthin Reach team at Norwich he declined their assistance and has not been taking any medication for his mental health. Since his reception to HMP Norwich Mr Guntrip has verbally abused staff; threatened prisoners and has been found with self made weapons in his cell. When I asked him about his behaviour Mr Guntrip informed me that he suffers from Manic Depression/Bi Polar condition, when he feels his sensation of being high he does not want to come back down”
“In reaching its decision the panel has sought to balance your interest in sentence progression against the need for public protection from you committing offences likely to cause serious harm. The panel notes that there is currently no support for your release, reports indicating that there is little or no evidence of any reduction in your assessed high risk of causing serious harm to the public and medium to high risk of re-offending. Noting that you have been assessed as having an Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder with traits of Dissocial and Paranoid personalities, the panel considers that you need to be further assessed by the Psychology Department as to the implications of this in relation to you effectively addressing your risk. Consequently, for the present, taking all of the above matters into account, the panel concludes that you pose too high a risk for it recommends your release or your transfer to open conditions.”
‘In terms of a current diagnosis I found no evidence of mental illness, particularly psychosis or depression, when I assessed Mr Guntrip on13 October 2009 . His obsessive-compulsive disorder appears to be in remission, no doubt assisted by ongoing treatment with antidepressant medication and the techniques he has learned from cognitive behavioural therapy and self-help literature. I am not persuaded that he suffers from bipolar affective disorder. The early age of onset of his behavioural problems is most untypical of this illness. Further more, his early contact with psychiatric services was in the context of heavy illicit drugs used and the episodes resolved quite quickly in the absence of this abuse. There appears to have been no recurrences of such manic episodes since 2001 despite erratic compliance with mood stabilising medication. Again this is not characteristic of the course of a bipolar affective illness.’
‘At interview Mr Guntrip was not entirely surprised at such a conclusion stating that over the years in custody psychology staff has suggested he is personality disordered to him. However, Dr Kamal’s report represents something of a seismic shift for the treatment and sentence planning for Mr Guntrip. I put it to Mr Guntrip that there are few and far between treatment resources in the prison system for severe personality disorders. One of these being HMP Whitemoor’s five year programme inevitably did not please him in view of its length and Category ‘A’ security status. It is clearly unfortunate that such a diagnosis presents at this stage in his sentence rather than from the start. However, research and better understand of treatment of personality disordered offenders has moved on at pace during his current sentence. It raises questions over the effectiveness and if many of the previous interventions that he has thus far completed as set for him were compatible to his needs.’
‘Current risk assessments: A Serious harm to others I would currently assess Mr Guntrip to pose a high risk of harm to members of the public, staff and prisoners. This would have risen to Very High when he was at his most unstable during the sectioning period but has now stabilized considerably. He was secreting weapons that he made in his cell and threatening/requesting to share a cell in order to kill someone. The index offence involved a robbery of a male victim who was walking along the street talking on his mobile phone late at night. He was threatened and robbed of his possessions by Mr Guntrip and his co-defendant. The victim was likely to have experienced a high level of fear and intimidation during this offence and may also continue to suffer emotional harm as a result. Moreover, Mr Guntrip committed this offence on licence for another Robbery offence. 53. Re-Offending In my assessment Mr Guntrip poses a high risk of re-offending. This is based on the high number of convictions he has received to date. Also on his inability to control his own emotions and behaviour in institutions does not bode well for the likelihood of his successful re integration into the community at this time.’